


Foundling

by markwatnae



Series: Lucida [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23551165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markwatnae/pseuds/markwatnae
Summary: Qui-Gon finds a Force-sensitive infant in the wreckage of a tropical storm.This changes everything.
Relationships: Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: Lucida [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/758790
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53





	Foundling

“Master Jedi!”

Qui-Gon stops and turns at the shout. Soaked to his hips in murky water after hours of moving wreckage, he’s passed the point of desire to return to his rooms, but he is a Jedi and is there to serve. A young man and woman rush up to him, the man holding a bundle close to his chest.

“What can I do for you?” He asks, releasing his exhaustion into the Force for just a bit longer.

The man eases the bundle away from his body and a human baby is there in his arms. They’re quiet, staring around at the destruction with eyes that are still mostly blue.

“This is Elora. She’s the child of our neighbors. They died in the storm protecting her,” the woman explains. “We’ve seen her move things without touching them. They were going to contact your Temple soon but—”

“She has no other family?” Qui-Gon asks.

The woman shakes her head. “They had no parents or siblings left.”

He packed only what he’d need for the treaty renewal and nothing else, never thinking he’d end up on a Finding mission. He could take the baby back with him to the Temple and have her tested. If her midichlorian count was too low to be accepted into the Temple, they could find her a safe place to go for placement with a family.

Nerves fried from the work and stress of digging through the wreckage for survivors or the missing, Qui-Gon nearly jumps when he feels the careful questioning touch of the Force against his shields. Elora is watching him now and she smiles at his wide-eyed gaze.

No testing necessary.

“I will take her,” he says finally, feeling wholly unprepared to care for a newly-orphaned infant.

The man heaves a sigh and smiles. He signs something with his right hand, cradling Elora with his left, but Qui-Gon doesn’t know this dialect of Basic Sign Language. His wife looks from her husband to Qui-Gon.

“He says that he’s relieved. He worried you would reject her without any evidence,” she says.

Qui-Gon smiles despite himself. “I have all the evidence I need, but I do need as much information on her as possible.”

“We’ll tell you everything we know,” she says.

Elora Edie quickly steals Qui-Gon’s heart. Their trip back to Coruscant is expedited thanks to the Council arranging for the next available and quickest transport due to Qui-Gon’s Find, but even that is enough time for Qui-Gon to become smitten with the baby. She reaches for him through the Force almost constantly and feeling her unadulterated love for him soothes his tired soul.

He feels the Force for her signature. It’s a cool, calm sensation among the warmth of her uninterrupted affection for her Finder. Qui-Gon has never been skilled in prescience or even gifted the skill through the Force but he feels a distinct connection to Elora. He meditates on the possibility as Elora sleeps contentedly in a bassinet provided by the transport.

There is no indication that he is to be her master when she reaches the age but he knows she will be a padawan. She will amount to a powerful and skilled master in the Jedi Order without question but her journey will not be smooth.

Qui-Gon strokes Elora’s smooth cheek as she sleeps. She doesn’t stir but her signature nestles against his own in the Force.

“I’ll be there every step of the way, little one. You won’t be alone.”

Qui-Gon takes Edie directly to the Halls of Healing upon their arrival to the Temple and leaves her in the capable hands of Master Che with the medical and personal histories he was able to glean from her rescuers.

His padawan is seated on his meditation cushion by the window when he returns to their quarters, reading from a datapad intently. Qui-Gon can no longer sense the lingering pain of Obi-Wan’s fractured ankle in the Force. He worried over leaving his senior padawan in the Temple while on a simple mission but his foresight was accurate. Obi-Wan wouldn’t have been able to maneuver around the wreckage and aid in the rescue missions. Better to keep him home and avoid any lingering feelings of guilt over being unable to help.

Upon setting eyes on Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon knows now the connection he has to Elora.

He’s never put much trust into prescience through the Force, only accepting the vaguest of warnings, but this seems to be decided without his opinion on the matter.

Elora will be his grandpadawan when she turns eleven and she will be indispensable to Obi-Wan. There is a feeling of foreboding surrounding the beginning of her apprenticeship but not in the sense that she is in danger. She will be influential in some momentous way. But so young? Hopefully, she is not burdened with handling something so heavy to steal her innocence.

“Master, is everything alright?”

Obi-Wan stands with only the slightest hesitation when he gets his foot underneath him.

Qui-Gon smiles and puts his pack down. “Yes, everything is fine. Have you seen the message from the Council about Naboo?”

“Yes, I’ve already started our research,” Obi-Wan says.

Qui-Gon squeezes his shoulder. “Thank you, Obi-Wan. You’re always one step ahead of me. We can discuss it over dinner.”

His padawan smiles at him, that cheeky, disarming smile that Qui-Gon so loves to see.

They’ll discuss future padawans after the Trade Federation is handled. Elora will still be waiting patiently in the crèche when they return to meet her future master.


End file.
